Democratic Legitimacy via Civil Society Involvement? The Role of the European Commission (DEMOCIV)

Research question/goal:

The aim of the research project was to operationalise mechanisms serving democratisation that have been formulated by theories of deliberative democracy and to study in an empirical analysis the democratic potential of civil society involvement in EU policy-making. Procedure/Approach: Four central criteria for democracy were defined: representativeness of and reciprocity in discourse, publicity, and accountability. The empirical analysis concentrated on the consultation regime of the European Commission and the horizontal and vertical interaction of the European Commission and civil society organisations in two selected policy fields. A database on the Commission’s online consultations was generated; interviews and document analysis added to discourse analysis. Results: The new consultation policy of the European Commission has opened up the intermediary space for additional interests and changed the mode and intensity of political communication by allowing for participation of the so called “weak interests” on a more equal footing. Due to their increased integration ‘general interests’ groups have intensified their EU-level networks and professionalised. This has considerable consequences for their inner-organisational communication structure: While there is a gain in public discourse, it usually is confined to elite circles at EU-level and only exceptionally reaches the national or local level.

Fact sheet

Funding:

DFG

Duration:

2003 to 2008

Status:

completed

Data Sources:

interviews, discourse analysis, network analysis

Geographic Space:

EU

Publications

Books

Knodt, Michèle, Christine Quittkat and Justin Greenwood (Eds.) (2012): Functional and Territorial Interest Representation in the EU. London and New York:Routledge.[Originally published as special issue of Journal of European Integration]more

Fischer-Hotzel, Andrea (2010): Democratic participation? The Involvement of Citizens in Policy-making at the European Commission. Journal of Contemporary European Research , 6, issue 3, pp. 335-352.more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2011): The three worlds of 'European civil society'. Different images of Europe and different roles for civil society. Pp. 57-72 in:Ulrike Liebert, Hans-Jörg Trenz (Eds.) The New Politics of European Civil Society.London/New York:Routledge.more

Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Christine Quittkat (2011): What is 'civil society' and who represents it in the European Union?. Pp. 19-39 in:Ulrike Liebert, Hans-Jörg Trenz (Eds.) The New Politics of European Civil Society.London/New York:Routledge.more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2011): If participation does not do the job, will accountability make a difference? The potential of Civil Society Organizations in democratizing the EU. Bielefeld / St. Petersburg[CGES Working Papers]more

Quittkat, Christine, and Michèle Knodt (2010): Is There a European Model of Governance? A Comparative Perspective. [IPSA International Conference Panel "Territorial and Functional Interest Representation in EU-Governance", Luxembourg, March 20th, 2010]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2010): Multi-Level Governance and the European Union. [Federalism, Regionalism & Public Policy”, Summer School Regions in Europe - ECPR Standing Group on Federalism and Regionalism, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, August 20th to August 28th, 2010]more

Quittkat, Christine, and Thorsten Hüller (2009): Bringing Civil Society In: The European Union and the rise of representative democracy. [International Conference: Democratising the European Union via Civil Society Involvement? The Case of the Commission’s Online Consultations, EUI/Florence, March 13th to March 14th, 2009]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2009): Accountability and Democratic Representation in the EU: What Role for Civil Society. [Research Seminar, University of Maastricht, September 21st, 2009]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2009): Civil society and deliberative democracy in the EU. [Lecture, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), January 27th, 2009]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2009): Civil Society: A Promoter of Multi-level Accountability?. [Lecture given at the research seminar, Institute for Public Policy (IPP), Centre of Human and Social Sciences (CCHS), Spanish High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Madrid, April 28th, 2009]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2009): Governance and Democracy in the EU. [Workshop, Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies at the Ministry at the Presidency, Madrid, April 27th, 2009]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2009): The Three Worlds of Civil Society. [Workshop: Participation and Legitimation in International Organisations, Sonderforschungsbereich 597 ‚Staatlichkeit im Wandel’, Bremen, January 29th to January 30th, 2009]more

Quittkat, Christine (2009): The European Commission's Online-Consultations' contribution to democracy. [Workshop: Participation and Legitimation in International Organisations", Sonderforschungsbereich 597 ‚Staatlichkeit im Wandel, Bremen, January 29th to January 30th, 2009]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2007): EU-Society Relations in European Governance. [Think & Act Conference. Democracy, European Governance and Social Sciences, Paris, January 10th to January 13th, 2007]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2007): The Different Layers of Accountability in EU Civil Relations. [Expert workshop, Legitimacy and Accountability of NGOs in International Governance, University of Bremen, October 12th to October 13th, 2007]more

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2007): The institutional shaping of EU-Society Relations: A Contribution to Democracy via Participation?. [Bergen Seminar on EU and Civil Society, University of Bergen, May 07th, 2007]more